IDF Gets New Commander of Online Media

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner has replaced Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich as Head of the IDF Foreign Press Branch, the blog of the Israel Defense Forces reported.

Lt. Col. Leibovich, who had headed the Foreign Press Branch for eight years, recently began her term as the first commander of the IDF's new Interactive Media Branch, which operates the IDF website and blog, as well as its presence on other media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram and Tumblr.

The sites, which operate in Hebrew, Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Russian, seek to combat the anti-Israel agenda disseminated by anti-Israel activists worldwide and to provide information and facts that are often overlooked or blatantly ignored by Israel’s detractors and the mainstream media.

In a farewell letter to the international media, Lt. Col. Leibovich noted the Foreign Press Branch's progress in recent years, emphasizing its efforts to become increasingly "open and available" to the international media.

"During these years, we have helped you to become more involved in our activities," she wrote, according to the IDF blog. "We facilitate visits and tours to our outposts, bases, drills and training exercises in our various branches – the Ground Force, Air Force and the Navy as well as in all four Commands. It has become ready and easy for journalists to interact with the Media."